Knitting. Quilting. Sewing. Motherhood. Cleaning. Just kidding about the cleaning.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The Best Comments, Ever

"Purple" before:

And after:

Thank you to all of you who thoughtfully left your comments! They were so wonderful. I read them over and over and laughed and sighed. So great. So funny. And all of the suggestions were really good.

One commenter even offered up precious yarn! Which was not only great in and of itself, but what I love even more is the concept of "Ramen Noodle Yarn". I will never look at kinky frogged yarn the same way again! Thank you!

I did consult blankie owner as to what I could and could not do. Anything with the word "cut" in it was definitely OUT! He said over and over "Do nothing!" "I love Purple just the way she is."

Of course, what could I do but abandon the "quickie fix" idea and do my utmost to restore Purple to her former glory.

My decision was based on two things. First, the overwhelming response that I could easily expect Ethan to carry the blankie around into his twenties any beyond. One commenter said "you need to fix the blankie as it as if it will be used FOREVER." Of course, you are right. I just wasn't thinking! I was looking for a quickie fix as if he was going to be "over" the blankie in another six months.

And one thing I want to make very clear: I was never worried that he would use it for many more years. I love that he loves it. He can wear it as a cumberbund in his wedding, for all I care. Let me repeat: I just wasn't thinking!

Second, I was looking at chaining the stitches back up individually, with a crochet hook. At some point, I had the realization that these holes were big areas, where I could put many stitches back on the needles and KNIT the rows back up, (which, if you have read this blog for awhile, you know I do all the time when I discover an error down below: unravel and knit back up sections at a time.) Knitting. Not crochet chaining. That made a huge difference in being able to mentally tackle this project.

I started with the big hole in the middle and got all the live stitches on one side back on a needle.

Here I have a couple inches knit back up.

I was doing garter stitch, instead of following the pattern because :

a/ fixing took enough concentration without also worring about following the pattern

b/ I had to add a few stitches here, subtract a few there as I went, depending on the amount of yarn I had in each strand

c/I thought the garter would "fill in" the looseness of the blankie better, and

d/ the blanket is such a mess at this point that I didn't think introducing a new stitch into the overall effect would really matter.

After I got to the top of the whole on the first side, I knit up from the other side to meet in the center:

And when I had live stitches on either side I kitchenered it together:

Here's another small patch fixed:

And lastly, I tackled the really big section:

That part was a lot of work, but at least it was pretty straightforward, without a lot of broken ends and weirdness. We won't even discuss what happened here:

Whew, almost done:

I finished that section and turned it over to discover, oops:I missed a little straggler! I guess I will cut that and weave them towards each other, square knot, and weave them away again.

If you see the stitch markers hanging out in various places, they are making live ends that I intend to sew down with a sewing machine.

In fact, I am thinking about machine sewing a grid--matching thread, would hardly be noticeable--about 5 times across, five times down, and around the outside, just a few rows in from the edge. So if/when it springs a leak again, at least it won't get out of control before I can fix it.

What a great repair job! I'm in awe.When my daughter's precious (machine bought, acrylic) blankie broke out in holes last year, she let me sew a flannel backing onto it and add a new edging. I was surprised she let me change it in such a dramatic way--but since I couldn't repair it with knitting, I didn't know what else to do!

WOW! What a story!!! With such a happy "ending", although this certainly isn't the end of the story, I'm sure. What a lucky boy he is to have you for his mother!Neither of our sons, now 6 and 3, has grown attached to anything so fiercely. I'm rather surprised, though, as I was VERY attached to my "bine-kee" sleeping with it folded and tucked under my pillow well into my college years, even though, by then, it was just two separate and shredded and ratty rectangles with none of the satin binding remaining.Hmmm. Makes me wonder what's become of it/them? I can still remember how it smelled and felt.

Bravo to the blankie rescue!!! I am 42 and refuse to dispose of the tattered rag that is the remnents of my beloved security blanket. "Rippy" was dragged around and loved for many years and now resides quietly in a memory box. Long live Blankies!

Good for you! Blankets are so special to little boys. I found this out when #2 son (5 years in the Navy by then, in subs yet) brought his wife and new baby cross country to meet his family. While showing her through the ol' homestead, he casually reached into the back of the linen closet and pulled out the pillowcase containing the shreds of his "pal." Yeah--it was still there. I don't know if I was more surprised that he expected it to still be there, or that it actually was. So yeah, fix Purple whenever it needs it, and then find it a nice spot in a pillowcase.